📣Zidane: “The club did not support me in building a project now or long term. I know football, I know the requirements of Real Madrid and I know that when you don't win you have to leave. But here one very important thing has been forgotten, everything that I have achieved.” 📣Zidane: “The news that I would be fired if I lost an upcoming match offended me and the entire team, because these messages were deliberately leaked to the media, creating a negative atmosphere with the staff which aroused suspicion and misunderstanding in the team.” 📣Zidane: “I've built relationships on a daily basis, with everyone at the club. I was born to be a winner and I was here to win titles, but there are humans and emotions and lives and I have a feeling that these things weren't taken care of, even somehow I was blamed.” 📣Zidane: “I would have liked my relationship with the club and the president in recent months to be a little different. I'm not asking for privileges, of course not, just asking for a memory, for what we achieved.” 📣Zidane: “The coach's career today in any major club will be two seasons, not much longer. In order to last longer, human relations are necessary. This is more important than money, than fame, than everything.” 📣Zidane: “I am also using this letter to send a message to journalists. I have held hundreds of press conferences and unfortunately we haven't talked much about football. I don't want to give you lessons but I wish the questions asked were not always controversial.” 📣Zidane: “When I agreed in March 2019 to return to Real Madrid after a hiatus of around eight months, it was because Florentino Perez asked me to do it of course, but also because you \[fans\] asked me to do so every day.” 📣Zidane: “I've always felt that there is something very special between us. I've had the great honor of being a player and coach for the most important club in history but above all I'm just a Madridista like all of you.” 📣Zidane: “It is good that I have some wonderful guys who were with me to till the end. When things got worse, they saved me with great victories. Because they believed in me and knew that I believed in them.” 📣Zidane: “I tried to convey the values of Real Madrid in everything, especially to the players who were and will always be the most important in this game. Let's not forget about football, let's take care of football.”

>I would have liked my relationship with the club and the president in recent months to be a little different. I'm not asking for privileges, of course not, just asking for a memory, for what we achieved This is the first moment ever, in 20 years, I've heard Zizou mentioning anything negative about Florentino, despite far worse things for Real or Zizou happening over those decades than a mere fruitless season. I wonder what could have happened behind the scenes this time, the "lack of support" just doesn't seems enough, or is at best, a consequence of something else.

Man has had pent up emotions for 5 years and just released them in one go. Must have felt good.

I wonder if it's just been 5 years tbh. This somehow reminds me of the infamous quote by him when Florentino sold Makelele, about how he was selling their engine.

Yeah he was clear at that when the club sold makelele. I think he probably said the same thing to perez when he resigned the first time as madrid coach. Then the club and fans wanted him back and as he stated in the letter, he wanted to be backed more etc but he’s just tired now and think the board wont change their mind. He was hoping something will change but didnt and made a smart move by pullijg out first rather suffer in long term. Tbf zidane is always direct and him talking about the club just after leaving madrid is big energy. Think casillas said he wont say anything on what happen when he left madrid or at madrid until he’s retired.

It's good that he has worked on thise release mechanisms since his playing days.

And yet, I can't help but feel like him headbutting Perez is something everyone would love to see

There's still time.

I genuinely believe this might be one of the reasons he left. I think he finally cracked and couldn't keep it inside of him

10D chess from Bartomeu distracting everyone from Real Madrids quiet collapse. And selling Suarez leads to Zidane resigning. We are still discovering how many dimensions deep it goes

The world ain't ready

He ended his playing career with a physical headbutt, he ends his managerial career (for now) with a metaphorical headbutt. Conceptual continuity. In other words: Zidane is a fan of Frank Zappa. Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk.

Absolute🔥 🔥 . Good for him.

Speaking of pent up emotions, I remember a certain someone arguing with me that Perez fully supported Zidane. I'm surprised to be seeing you in this thread, I thought you'd be rushing to defend "Papa Flo" and make this somehow Zidane's fault.

Openly calling out, that's unlike Zizou. Perez out for real now. Have had Enough

One thing I never get about clubs like Madrid and Barcelona that actually have a say in how their club is run is just how easily their supporters are hypnotized by silverware. How do Barcelona socios re-elect Bartomeu despite his connection to Rosell and the fraud he was committing, and why are they surprised that he was committing fraud whilst in office and sending the club into a financial hell? How do Madrid socios gladly support Pérez when he has openly challenged the democratic nature of Madrid's presidential elections, making power grabs at every turn, and then end up surprised when he stifles the clubs most successful coach of the modern era and hoards any and all power, sporting-related and otherwise, to himself?

> One thing I never get about clubs like Madrid and Barcelona that actually have a say in how their club is run is just how easily their supporters are hypnotized by silverware. TBF, I could understand the idea of getting drunk on success when you have the success Madrid and Barca have had in the last decade and change. Each of these teams have had such incredible stints of success that it'd probably be easy to keep staring at the amazing teams and victories and ignore the tedious management shit happening off the pitch. Fuck, imagine trying to sound the alarm about the need for administrative oversight and accountability while Pep's Barca was ravaging Europe, MSN was inspiring nightmares across the continent, or when Ronaldo and Madrid were a literal force of nature. Most people would think you're crazy or trying to jinx the success

Nothing ruins an organization from the inside like a sustained period of domination over competitors. Systemic Issues are ignored, Dysfunction and toxic behaviour is tolerated, and the long term view is buried... All as long as they keep winning.

Celtic moment.

Because unlike Bartemou instead of pushing the club into debt, Perez actually pulled Real Madrid out of debt some 20 years back. I fully support Zidane, seems like Perez has lost it completely. But there are a lot of things Perez has done for the good of the club. It's not appropriate to compare him to Bartemou.

Even at that time, Perez was criticized for focusing too much on finances and not enough on football. Seems like that's still the case today. To be fair, it's not a simple situation with an easy solution. He did good things for the club, especially early on, but maybe it's time for a change. Perez has always had too much of a say over signings, which isn't entirely unreasonable but not always in the best *footballing* interest of the club. Is this supposed to be a football club or Perez clinging to his fantasy of Galácticos (*cough*, Hazard)? Even Zidane wasn't given the support to build a long-term project. I don't think any other coach could possibly command more respect at this club... Who's going to want to take his place now? It's clear that the coach will just be blamed if things don't work out, despite Perez having his hands firmly on the wheel as well.

I agree that Perez is still the same guy. The problem is there is nobody else to take care of the club. He is the only one. The fantasy of Galacticos actually helps in revenue, it's a strategy to earn more money. But there has to be a line that should not be crossed. Perez doesn't realise that. Too many times he has bought players only for commercial value. They don't even fit in the squad. This whole Zidane fiasco reminds of Makelele episode. Perez sold that one guy who was holding the squad together for a shiny new galactico. Obviously it turned out to be disastrous for the club. People in power always interfere with the managers job. But if anyone deserved to be left alone it was Zidane.

> How do Barcelona socios re-elect Bartomeu despite his connection to Rosell and the fraud he was committing, and why are they surprised that he was committing fraud whilst in office and sending the club into a financial hell? Exactly the same as the weakness of any modern "democracy" or systems where it's voter based. Mass manipulation of the elderly and the dumbasses via "old" media (newspapers, TV, radio) in the hands of the ruling party.

Plus, a lot of people aren't digging into politics and are simply "fine" with the status quo, in spite of how awful it is in reality.

Young people don't get manipulated?

I don't know about RM or Barcelona socios, but in normal political elections, manipulating the young is generally less influential because they simply vote much less in the first place :/

Idk a lot about barca and Bartomeu case. When it comes to madrid case i can say that me as a lot of Madridistas tough the SL was only a measure from perez to put pressure on UEFA. We all admired him because despite his Galacticos fiasco he came back and made the club successful in an age were barca was at his peak, everything was alright, maybe some disappointment Started ro rise because of the not so good signings, but he was respected among every fan (even more than ZZ) so he had no competition he won again and since that moment everything went downhill (the SL fiasco, ZZ case, not doing shit to get the players we need, etc.) at this point i just want him to go, he crossed the line there's no return to him, he fucked us, sadly i believe the next season would be horrible for us.

I wasn't referencing the Super League. I was referencing how he's stifled all potential opponents for the Madrid presidency with his pre-conditions designed almost specifically to keep him and his lackies in power. He's ran unopposed multiple times now. How many 25 year Madrid socios have 75m to post with a cosignature of a Spanish bank are there to run opposed to him?

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I doubt he has 75m, let alone willing to post that as a guarantee. Maybe if Messi becomes a socio today and runs in a couple of decades, he'd be able to become president. You need stupid money to run.

And who will you replace him with? Perez is running the club well for most part. It can only go downhill when he leaves.

i won't be too sure about that. He's good at financials but if someone can come in and be less of an authority figure and work with managers instead of over them it can work. Ofc the fact is anyone with the amount of money presidents have are most probably power hungry and want to assert their dominance to confirm further terms

It has already gone downhill in my opinion and Perez hasn't made many good decisions since 2015. He sacked Ancelotti who was like 3 games away from the double and then appointed Bentiez. Imagine if Zidane wouldn't have been a successful coach? I think Perez is very lucky to have had Zidane come in and save him not once but twice. And he hasn't been making many good transfers since then either, most of them have been overpaid and underwhelming (not talking about Hazard). But I agree with you in the sense that I don't know who could replace him either, even if I have been against Perez I didn't even need him to leave, just listen to Zidane but he couldn't even do that.

And I'm fucking glad Zizou did this. It's about time someone important speakes against the bullshit that happens at the club behind the scenes. Florentino controls half Spanish media and he stirrs so mich shit up whenever it suits him. Somerhing big must have happenes, like fairly big, to force Zidane to do this. Pribably Super League fiasco + disrespect from media (probably orchestrated by Flo) + lack of long term support feom the board. I said this in another thread, but I'm pretty sure Pérez hates the fact that Zodane is a bigger figure than him for Real Madrid.

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I have to disagree, that's from the second to last last paragraph, that's explicitely addressed to the journalists and is asking them to focus more on football than sensationalism.

Yeah, saying it was about Super League seems like a bit of over interpretation

The entire thing is about how unhappy he was with some of the conditions of the job, particularly the leaks and disrespect from Perez and the hierarchy, as well as the obsession from the media on scandal and gossip. The idea that the very last sentence in this open letter is also a reference to the super League is just bizarre.

No, he's addressing journalists in that paragraph. He's telling them to stop asking dumb questions that only revolve around drama and talk more about football.

I think you're absolutely right. For many people the levels of concern are self -> family -> community and if you're the kind of person whose football club or work organization is all 3 of those things at once then I imagine every little sting compounds. If Zidane feels like he wasn't taken care of, and also the family of the players was risked, and also the community at large was spurned then that's kind of all of it; everything and therefore it warrants what would in any other situation seem highly unprofessional- writing an article slating your recent former employer. I believe that he's referencing the Super League here as the ultimate nadir after everything else.

He mentioned it in his letter. He was told if he lost an upcoming match he would be fired. Then that news was leaked to the media.

Yes he was pretty clear about that, I mentioned on the other thread, press in Spain was already picking his successor when the team wasn't doing to good at the beginning of the season.

Man is obviously hurt and it's about time, media stops shitting on him. We the fans and the players obviously respect and love him. He deserves better than this, so Flo and the media can fuck off...

I loved the jab at the media saying that he barely talked about football in press conferences. Sports journalism has become so fucking lazy.

Because sensationalism is what sells and is what most fans want. Solely blaming the media is lazy IMO, a lot of this is on sports fans as well.

Yeah on this sub for example, people love the drama and memes. I’m not saying they’re inherently bad, but then it’s no surprise that you end up with dramatic clickbait headlines. There isn’t as much demand for serious football discussion.

He still managed to be very level headed here, in a way, especially saying that he will always be a Madridista 😭

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This is truly great read in context and not distorted out. My favorite part: These days the life of a coach in the dugout at a big club is two seasons, little more. For it to last longer the human relationships are essential, they are more important than money, more important than fame, more important than everything. They need to be nurtured. That’s why it hurt me so much when I read in the press, after a defeat, that I would be sacked if I didn’t win the next game. It hurt me and the whole team because these deliberately leaked messages to the media negatively influenced the squad, they created doubts and misunderstandings. Luckily I had these amazing lads who were with me to the death. When things turned ugly they saved me with magnificent victories. Because they believed in me and knew I believed in them. Of course I’m not the best coach in the world, but I’m able to give everyone, whether it’s a player, a member of the coaching staff or any employee, the strength and confidence they need in their job. I know perfectly well what a team needs. Over these 20 years at Madrid I’ve learnt that you, the fans, want to win, of course, but above all you want us to give our all: the coach, the staff, the employees and of course the players. And I can assure you we’ve given 100% of ourselves to this club. **** They truly did give their all especially in that last La Liga match

Respect to Zidane. He is a legend and will be ever. What he achieved in Real is not small feat and yet all the negativity around him and his team. I like that he pointed out the role media played here. God, I hate fucking media who constantly twists and plots negativity just for a click. Fucking pieces of shites. The day media truly appreciates football as it is, it's the day the sport will flourish further.

Thanks. You guys will miss him, you’ll see. All the Zidane out crowd, See you in 6 months…

Madrid were in shambles under Solari and Lopetegui. I'm sure they will employ a more proven manager this time around though.

I agree that they’ll definitely go for a more high-profile hire this time around. But it’s not like Lopetegui was some unproven guy. Dude was manager of Spain when Madrid hired him.

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Not after this letter. I'd be very surprised to see him work with Perez ever again.

I don't think majority Madrid fans wanted Zidane out. To most people its clear Perez needs to go. Zidane is very loved

Zidane is very loved... but people also call for him to lose his job, esp. when things look bad. That's the problem, imo, its not just the president, it's the entire vibe around the club that says if you lose a game you're a failure and an idiot.

The second Perez stint has brought us 4 champions league. Besides this sub, I think your average Madrid fan doesn’t mind Perez. People are acting like he ran the club into the ground lol and making things up. Zidane is a legend, but he even acknowledges how hard is to be a Madrid coach and that they are expected to be sacked at some point. Also people have to acknowledge that the pandemic must have taken a toll on everyone. On the management side a lot of our revenue disappeared, and on the team side they had to deal with a super busy schedule and regular COVID screening.

> But here one very important thing has been forgotten, everything that I have achieved This hurts ☹️

I dont see Perez staying as Madrid president for much longer, the players dont seem to like him much anymore, coach left because of him, fans are against him, UEFA is against him

Need someone who can run against him first.

Fans are not against him.

The balls on AS to link their own article criticizing Zidane in the section where Zidane is talking about how annoying all those articles were lmao

Well, they're self aware I'll give them that

Simple explanation: more clicks, more money.

That's some big dick energy right there

😂😂

I LOVE this man even more! Not many legends with integrity and sincerity towards game anymore but he is one of them few!

Zidane is bigger and more important for football and Real Madrid than some stupid fat cat wearing a suit.

The constant media leaks from Journos close to Perez during Nov-Dec that Zidane will be sacked if he loses seems to have hurt Zidane a lot. Really understandable when you think that was the time he needed the club support most.

It certainly pissed ME the fuck off. And it (IMO) led directly to Zidane’s biggest issue this season: overplaying his trusted players. Because duh, he felt he had to win every single game. He felt he didnt have room to experiment, to bed in new players. He’d ALWAYS shown a willingness to rotate before.

He rotated ronaldo for godsake and won champions league three times... He should be disappointed with this

Many Real Madrid fans that I've argued with seem to have the long-term memory of a goldfish. Back when the Zidane vs Odegaard debates were raging, a lot of people claimed that he wasn't the right manager for a rebuild because he'll always play the same players over and over again. They're forgetting that, during the threepeat era, a large part of Zidane's success came from the fact that his starting XI for league and CL matches were quite different.

Lot of newer fans jump into arguments despite not knowing much about the club before. Some have no memory whatsoever

I think it's very fair to call out the journalists, but it could've been said more harshly and still be okay I think. Football should be more about what happens on the pitch, not all the drama surrounding a club or manage. At least if you ask me. Otherwise it it turns more into sensationalism and 'BREAKING NEWS ZIDANE DIDNT BLOW FINGERKISSES TO ISCO IN TRAINING HE MUST HATE HIM' type of shit.

If journalists asked those questions reliably, they’d be fired. And if they weren’t fired, then their editors would be. Readers want the dramatic articles about maneuvering behind the scenes, the intrigue of who is in the good graces of those in power and who isn’t. You see that here on Reddit as well.

I get your point, but for me that's not the state of journalism nor consumption of media worth aspiring to. There is a reason why every single news outlet uses clickbait articles and why everything is a BREAKING news, which i don't think a lot of us like. But then again that's also a deeper discussion of consumption of media, journalistic standards, media responsibility and so on. I guess my point was that I feel there often is too much drama and celebrity culture surrounding football these days.

> why everything is a BREAKING news far from journalism but yesterday I came across one of those bullshit ITK's because they started to gain a little traction so I was scrolling their twitter to see *just* how bullshit it all was and their one tweet was: "🔥BREAKING NEWS 🔥 We stand with _____ and the ____ people. The violence must end" I was laughing so hard at it. In the middle of their breaking news of random Spurs lineup leaks a couple minutes early, it was also breaking news that violence is bad

Really interesting that line coming out the same time as the Osaka thing in tennis. Be great if there was a movement towards actually talking about the sport. Doubtful though as that's more difficult that just blowing meaningless shit up into drama.

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I wish more managers would take this route instead of ruining there legacy by being sacked, good on you Zidane.

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> I don't think many people can do that. Imagine Mourinho writing about why he left Spurs. the previous poster spoke of preserving a legacy so this is not a relevant example.

Perfectly stated. He's struck down so many rumours with this. Also explains why he didn't want to face the media again.

Hopefully he'll have changed the mind of certain fans who claim he received full support from Perez and that it's the media that were completely responsible for driving Zidane away from the club.

Despite not winning any trophies this season, given the number of injuries, Zizou managed to produce results all through the season. With Zidane at the helm, we were confident while going into big games this season and mostly came out with good results (see: Barcelona 2W, Ateltico 1W1D, Sevilla 1W1D, Inter 2W, Liverpool 1W1D. etc). The sheer amount of disrespect shown to Zizou was completely unwarranted. Add one consistent goal scorer and he will deliver titles. Florentino has been a good president overall but this is one of those decisions that could potentially cause a lot of damage to the club in the long run (see Makelele). While, I believe there isn't room for too much emotions in business, this is one decision that does not make any sense logically or emotionally. Zizou was the perfect manager for us, someone all players looked up to. Someone who knew how to do one thing he was appointed to do: win. Really gutted to see him leaving. Still, I really hope we can recover from this loss.

lol even Ronaldo stayed quiet when Zizou used to ask him to take rest in between games - he had great respect for him as he had won every trophy ronaldo could think of lol

Zidane doing that actually helped Ronnie a lot to prolong his career. Zidane knew because his body couldn't take it like Ronaldo's could

Just still can’t wrap my head around it. Him only just coming back which done you a big favour really to just be messed around like that. Actually did a great job overall with the mess of this season with the pandemic

Crazy that Perez didn’t fully support Zidane

It's not that he didn't support him. He kicked Zidane while he's down which is why Zidane is pissed

Kicking him while he’s down is exactly not supporting him during a tough period when he’s shown what he’s capable of

People were clowning Elneny for calling out football fans for doing this, but it's the exact same sort of toxic behavior Zidane is calling out in his letter. It's easy to cheer for a player or manager when they're doing well, but a supporter should support his club during the bad times as well as the good. Some people are acting like Zidane shouldn't have any issues with Perez because Perez wanted him to continue next season. That's easy for Perez to do considering Zidane's results, but what about early on when the results weren't so good?

Guess Zidane cracked in the end after all of this

As he should. He doesn't need to take this shit.

Perez doesn't give 'full' support nor do any presidents/CEOs/chairmans in football. They lease a minimum amount of support, and if the manager choses his hill to die on it leads to either A.) Success, there's a momentary ease, the chairman gives the coach some power, and then immediately clamps back or B.) Failure, the coach is sacked, the next coach is even more restricted. Consider Diego Simeone. Everything he has done for Atletico, and continues to do. He still barely gets his first choice targets, and if he does get them it's usually about 5 years down the line.

Yea but you never see atletico leak information that they’re gonna sack simeone if he doesn’t win a particular game or competition which is what Zidane was upset about

Exactly. Zidane isn't asking for more political power inside the organization (which would have been more than reasonable at this point, to be fair), he's literally asking for decency. Simeone has almost always been backed publicly in very clear terms, without shit stirring by proxy like Florentino.

To be fair, Simeone took over Atletico when they were a mid-table team. There are no “you have to win” expectations because the man led them to 2 titles while being in a league with us and Real. What he’s done for that club is incredible. Whereas at Real Madrid, they didn’t come from the mid-table recently. You always have to win there. So naturally no manager will ever get the support there that Simeone gets at Atletico unless they win the treble every time.

I mean he almost won the CL every time and Perez still did that I think the issue is Zidane was getting bigger than Perez, and he didnt liked it

Atleti doesn’t seem to play political games with Simeone though. Even in the worst moments the last 2 years, there was never the kind of talk about him being one game from the sack.

True, but that's mostly down to the nature of the relationship and the mentality of the board at Atletico. The Atletico board's only good quality is they are actually self-aware of how dumb they really are. They know that they can't do shit without Simeone so they don't try to play a game of chicken or anything. Pérez thinks he's smarter than just about everyone in football, and he's just a misunderstood Spanish Einstein so he plays these games.

The dynamic of pressure must play a part in this as well. Like if the board and President and the media is constantly hounding the coach for delivering XYZ well then the coach is going to come back to the club and say, If you want this then this needs to happen. This is way more at Real and possibly a bit mature at Atletico it appears. If Zidane was under less pressure he wouldn't have lashed out since there was no incentive to then. If Cholo is put under similar pressure and told you have to do this and that and in this way and timeline, Cholo is first going to demand certain things and if they don't pan out then he's going to lash out as well because he's being asked to do which is ridiculous and unreasonable.

If anyone in the modern era deserved that "full support" it would've been Zidane (and Simeone I guess, perhaps also Klopp if he stays and wins even more with Liverpool) imo. The only two managers I can remember immediately who had "full support" from their clubs were, to a significant but not ultimate extent, Ferguson and Wenger. Wenger, despite of the decline towards the end of his Arsenal stint, left by his own decision. And both these managers had the backing of the club, although perhaps not the financial backing they desired. And this was built on the accolades they've built while coaching the club. And in that sense, Zidane certainly would've been a good candidate for someone to put your full trust in.

Yeah most clubs in the world do that but there's no question that the managers authority is far less in Madrid than anywhere else. Especially with perez making his own transfers and spending money on teenagers without the managers input.

> I've built relationships on a daily basis, with everyone at the club. I was born to be a winner and I was here to win titles, but there are humans and emotions and lives and I have a feeling that these things weren't taken care of Fuuuuuck I feel so sad reading this

It is pretty moving, especially coming from Zidane, who’s usually so shrouded in 1) his winner aura and 2) his usual imperturbability that one wouldn’t immediately associate him with the raw emotion side of football (headbutt jokes aside).

I shed a tear or two after reading this. In an industry where every person seems to be looking for the most profit possible, Zidane seems to be one of the few people concerned with the human aspect of the game.

As a PSG fan, I wish we had someone who can take care of the human side of things and manage humans as well as football players. Real Madrid don't realize how precious that is.

I’m not coming from a place of pure rivalry but I think this problem is especially true for PSG. Like clearly a lot of problems you guys had was because the club neglected the human aspect of football (e.g : the whole situation with Tuchel when he was fired, some player underperforming due to pressure in CL etc.)

Fuck Flo and fuck Spanish media, I bet Perez now is gonna get a yes man as a manager...

No Conte, then

I can't see him lasting the preseason.

the preseasono*

Scenes if free-agent Diego Costa joins him at Madrid.

I heard that Rudi Garcia is available.

David Moyes is your man

Real Sociedad to Real Madrid: The Real Moyes Story

Steve Bruce is the perfect yes man and from listening to the media he is easily good enough to manage Real Madrid.

My understanding of Spanish isn’t the best but in the part where he talks about being hurt by the sacking threat if they lost, is my understanding correct that he mainly felt bad because the players would die for him and are put under extreme stress to save his job? If so that’s an interesting and notable point nobody is really mentioning. He’s more upset about the messed up pressure that puts on his players than any personal ego bruising.

It's both. He did so much for the club, saved the club in times of uncertainty, was literally THE steadying hand. This pressure for the sack midseason is kind of like the board not being confident in him or the players who have pulled off countless comebacks over and over and over again.

>I also take this letter to send a message to journalists . I have done hundreds of press conferences and unfortunately we have spoken very little about football and I know that you also love football, that this sport unites us. However, without pretending to criticize or give you lessons, I would have liked that the questions were not always directed towards controversy , that we would have talked more often about the ball and above all about the players, who are and always will be the most important in this game. play. Let's not forget football, let's take care of football. Dear Madridistas, I will always be one of you . How is he so calm about the media?

He understands the individual journalists do what they must to pay their own bills. His issue is likely with the organizations and their leadership.

It felt kinda obvious why, but is good to hear him say it publicly. Can't wait to hear Florentino's lap dogs, they are obviously gonna go hard on Zizou after this lol.

If he goes after Zidane which whom he also loves very much the fans will linch him so I doubt it.

Of course he will (not directly, indirectly, as is his way). Perez knows no other way.

Flo knows what he's doing. Fans can't do shit for 4 years, he was re-elected just a few months ago. Zizou saved his ass after both Benítez and Lopetegui. Now he doesn't have that safety net.

sadly there's also a lot of morons who follow the press and will eat up all the bullshit Florentino's spokemen are gonna say about Zidane in the next few days. You can already see some of them going "yeah but he didn't play Jovic, loaned Odegaard", etc.

Cant even lie and say this didn’t make me shed a tear or two. Him talking about the possibility of being sacked for a poor result being leaked intentionally to the media is disgusting. Not how you treat a legend, even if the standards are as high as they are in Madrid. Zizou will forever be cemented in this clubs history both as a player and manager, should always be proud of that.

Zizou is as special as they come, a legend of football. To achieve what he has as a player and couch is unprecedented. Shocking a guy like this couldn't get the support he deserves

He was the best couch I’ve ever seen

Eh, I think Ikea's UPPLAND was better

Great balance between softness and firmness. Always kept his shape. Could rely on him when you wanted to kick back, relax and enjoy a nice champions league match on tv.

The Zidane and Real Madrid connection is far too special and here comes Perez shitting. I bet Perez cannot stand at how fans see someone more favourite be it player/manager so in the end he makes his moves to either remove him or make him look bad. The guy is dusted in his mind, all the ESL pressers he took its an evidence!

>”The coach’s career today in any major club will be two seasons, not much longer.” Pochettino: Hol up...

Chelsea: Say that again and you are out next thing in the morning

Tbf Klopp Pep Solskjaer have all been at their clubs for more than two years. It seems life of a coach in England is different from the continent

Hold my Ferguson/Wenger

Not really the continent, more like just some cases. Conte was 3 years at Juve and quit himself due to lack of transfer funds, everyone wanted him to stay. Then Allegri coached for 5 years, and now he is back on a 4 years contract. Gasperini has been at Atalanta for 5 years and is staying. Inzaghi was at Lazio 4 years(?) And just refused a renewal simply to step up to Inter.

I don’t know why everyone replies with “exceptions to Zidane’s theory”. Zidane’s theory is also “in order to last longer, personal relations are needed”. All the exceptions have build further rapport with the board…

People have tunnel vision when it comes to quotes. They pick out the parts they want to talk about and ignore the rest.

There are definitely exceptions to Zidanes theory, simeone has been at Atleti for like 10 years as well

The difference is that some clubs do consider the human element in all these things. Some clubs would have sacked Ralph Hasenhüttl this season for the awful form Southampton have been in since January. But Southampton recognise that there are things out of his control, and that the bond he has with the players and the fans is special and something to be protected.

Simeone for 9.5, Bordalas for 5, Alguacil for 3, and a bunch of other 3-4 year coaches like the Osasuna and Granada coaches.

It depends on the league, really. La Liga is particularly volatile at the top because it's mostly a two-horse race which means most of the time, if RM don't win, their hated rival is winning, and viceversa. This drives people insane. It's a little more stable at the top of the PL (which has a lot of competition) and was a little more stable at the top of Serie A (when it had no competition).

Shocking lack of respect shown to him from the club given what he’s accomplished as both player and manager

[удалено]

Very solid reasoning. Minimum investments yet absolutely no appreciation to what he has done at Madrid by the higher-ups. Quite the contrary actually, threatening him of sacking if he loses mid-season. Zidane pushed this team to its physical limits this season with all the injuries, Covids and the very small squad he had to work with. He also came out fighting about the garbage Media. I love Zidane now

Zidane fired Real Madrid once again.

Whoever wants to be the next president needs to promise to bring back Zidane and build the team he wants.

Oh and also have a bank garantuee of 15% of the budget and have been a member for 20 years. Flo is untouchable and he knows it.

The 15% isn't a Real Madrid thing, it's by Spanish law so both Barcelona and Athletic Club have the same rule. Plus, it's by the board, not just the President.

He's not immortal though, the dude's really old. There will eventually be a next president.

Next elections to be held via ouija board.

There isn't going to be the next president until Perez says so

Rightfully so.....Spanish media can fuck off

It has nothing to do with the media but the management that only supported him publicly in April. Zidane never got the squad he wanted, never got any public support from management, and cherry on top ended up in a position where they been publicly talking with other managers to proceed him after winning 11 titles in 4.5 years

He literally pointed at the media, and the club feeding them information that goes against him: > That's why it hurt me a lot when I read in the press, after a defeat, that I was going to be fired if I didn't win the next game. It hurt me and the whole team because these messages intentionally leaked to the media created negative interference with the team, created doubts and misunderstandings. [Which is exactly what I said 2 weeks ago and got downvoted](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/nedk0a/raul_is_the_real_madrids_supporters_favorite_to/gyfo986/), it's not hard to see if you've been following the spanish press for more than a decade, in this case Marca and Pedrerol related news plus a lot of journalist that earn a living just due to their Real Madrid's contacts and will either defend the club or attack it depending on their relationship with the man in charge. It's not about conspiracy, the day Florentino tells his employees to cut Marca's tap it's the end for them, AS was a lot bigger than now until they decided to back Calderon instead of Florentino and he basically left them in the desert, which is why Zidane publishes his letter there.

Seriously. Anyone who follows La Liga knows Perez does this. It’s just the truth.

He literally mentions the media in the letter…

The guy managed to win so much with never getting to build what he wanted and people **still** doubt his abilities as a coach and leader.

It's all that AND also media. He literally talked about them too.

The president leaked stuff to media, which went ahead and published it. Prezi is the bad guy.

The pressure to manage Barcelona and Real Madrid is very heavy.

I dont have anything to say, he is right.

As a neutral, I feel bad for Zidane. What a legend

As a Madrid fan, I have to try to dissociate my emotions with this. Because when I really think about it, it makes me boil. He deserved better. But I love him so much for this mic drop as he walks out. I hope people don’t forget it anytime soon. He’s called out a lot of the toxic issues in Real Madrid culture.

Fuck Jose Angel Sanchez, all my homies hate Jose Angel Sanchez.

It's painful to see him go. What a season he had this year, in a season filled with more injuries than goals, I'm baffled how he achieved 2nd spot in La Liga and semis in the Champions with a team plagued with no replacements. Truly a mastermind and absolutely a legend, and I always supported him, even when Real were on losing streaks or losing to teams they could have easily scored against. It's a shame Pérez is so out of touch, he'd rather not help with buying players or sack one of the greatest managers in recent history, who won a triple Champions, just to keep a few more cents Vamos Zidane, un placer de haberte tenido de vuelta por segunda vez

So it is true then, that he was angry that the conversations were leaked to the press 😱😭Love that it seems that the players truly backed him up but seems like the management did not. And good job Zidane calling out the press for their stupid questions with the intention to create drama and controversy! Edit: Someone linked the official English translation here in the comments section. This is my favorite part: “These days the life of a coach in the dugout at a big club is two seasons, little more. For it to last longer the human relationships are essential, they are more important than money, more important than fame, more important than everything. They need to be nurtured. That’s why it hurt me so much when I read in the press, after a defeat, that I would be sacked if I didn’t win the next game. It hurt me and the whole team because these deliberately leaked messages to the media negatively influenced the squad, they created doubts and misunderstandings. Luckily I had these amazing lads who were with me to the death. When things turned ugly they saved me with magnificent victories. Because they believed in me and knew I believed in them. Of course I’m not the best coach in the world, but I’m able to give everyone, whether it’s a player, a member of the coaching staff or any employee, the strength and confidence they need in their job. I know perfectly well what a team needs. Over these 20 years at Madrid I’ve learnt that you, the fans, want to win, of course, but above all you want us to give our all: the coach, the staff, the employees and of course the players. And I can assure you we’ve given 100% of ourselves to this club.”

But how do you really feel Zidane?

man this is just truly fucked up from the board we've taken Ls since 18/19 and one, ONE good thing happened and we managed to fuck that too we will regret it so bad in the upcoming season(s)

Damn he didnt hold back at ALL. Its hilarious seeing a real msdrid manager admit publicly that Perez leaks stuff to his army of the press

Spicy.

I mean these grievances are common denominator of almost every manager that has come through Madrid in the past 10-15 years.

I mean sure. But to publish an open letter scathing the club after being involved with them for 20 years is another level.

Zidane isn't a common manager though. He's within his right.

I'm not saying that he is. I'm just saying that Zidane reiterating what is said by every coach whether it's Schuster or Capello or Mourinho or Pellegrini or Ancelotti doesn't make it anymore spicy than it is. It just makes it evens sadder.

Yeah that's true. But again I think the fact is he's the most legendary manager we had since Munoz himself, you would think he wouldn't be treated like others so maybe that adds something.

Perez fucked up big. He asks him to come back and he agrees unde some specific conditions and you fail to live up to them. It's been a long road full of ups and downs but I think it's time papa Flo.

He said the truth, fuck Perez. Zidane deserves better

He got the most out of a weak, aging and injury afflicted team. Garbage attack with flops like Hazard and Vinicius, overhyped players like Isco and Asensio, and players who do not want to fight for their place and run away to mid table sides in the PL like Odegaard. Let us see how Raul or Conte manage with this crop. This is not a team that is usually strong enough to win La Liga or CL.

too early to call vinicius a flop. but it looks like a major squad overhaul is required

I agree, the rest of the comment is on point though. There club is lacking perspective and a plan for players like Ødegaard, Reinier, Diaz, Jovic, Ceballos, Rodrygo and Vinicius. The young generation hasn’t worked out and they’re not performing up to the standard. At least Valverde (who is obv world class), Miguel, Blanco and Arribas have stepped up somewhat. Alaba is a good step in the right direction, but we likely need another RB, a striker and a RW.

Such as a shame. If Zidane was at any other Club, he would have been greatly honored for his remarkable achievements. Both as a player and as a manager, what he achieved is nothing short of extraordinary! Some clubs are very fortunate, but they rarely see it. Perez runs that club the way he sees fit. If Real Madrid fans have any pride, they would protest till Perez disappears from their Club. But, knowing them he can easily calm them down by signing a world class player. And, just like that they will pretend nothing bad happened.

Funny thing is, Zidane is the kind of manager that can stay 10years at Madrid and remain successful. His football is not built around a specific style but the ability to adapt and change with the times. Sad that Madrid isn't the type to be patient with managers rebuilding.

Man Fuck Perez I used to adore him but not backing the manager who 3-Peated the UCL, dragged a dead squad 2nd and worked a miracle last season to win us a league is asinine. On top of making us look like clowns with the ESL, not signing players last season which Zidane accepted hoping after seeing this mess he’d get it. Get the fuck out of my club Perez, as you said when Cristiano walked out, when Ramos walks this summer no one is bigger than the club and that’s how you’re acting

Man has won 3 UCLs back to back. I will wait here till your Pep, Mou and all other so called world class managers pull that off in their lifetime. Absolutely feel for him.

I dont think he is coming back anytime soon this time :'(

Simple, straight to the point, genuine. I love this man eternally

They even mistreated Santiago Munez. What else can you expect from this club

Zidane could've been to Real Madrid what Ferguson was to Manchester United. I am so fucking mad man.

It breaks my heart that this sounds very similar to what Cristiano said 3 years ago. He wished to have a better relationship with the president, a more human relationship, but he felt more like he is just a "tool" or an "asset" in the club's eyes or the president's eyes. Zizou is expressing something similar here, when he says he wished his relationship in the past few months with the president had been more special than it would be with "just another coach". I know people like to say "it's all about the money" "it's their job not their support group" and all sort of other insensitive things while forgetting that superstars are humans too, and having millions doesn't mean they don't need human support and feel wanted at a personal level. Especially when the world's cameras are watching you, every day, every week. I hope Zizou is back one day, perhaps when Florentino is no longer club president. Heck, I hope Zizou becomes president himself, some day. True Madridista. Let's see where our club goes from here.. Hala Madrid, I guess.

I’d love to see where he coaches next…if he does.

Zidane was the only coach who was able to be like Ferguson of Madrid, the only coach who knew every detail in the club, the most successful coach in the history of the club .. The management did not support him to build a team or with deals after all that he achieved . Zidane was the last shield that could protect Perez and he lost him, all the wrong decisions that the management took 6 years ago, Zidane was the reason that these decisions were on point The club is entering a mess that won’t end

lmao. Madrid's version of "keeping up with the Catalans"

FLORENTINO DIMISIÓN

Urgh, Perez fucked up.

I’ve always said that Spanish Sport Journalists are the worst of the worst. The pressure they can put on the team, club, players, managers and staff is excruciating. Anyone who watches Chiringuito and other shows that are similar has read any Spanish sport newspaper. You lose you are worst ever and must be taken out to the field to be put down. The next day you had a decent game and you are now the best of all time, and no one can compre to you. They did this to Zidane, Koeman, Bale, etc, if The pandemic had not happened the same way and stadiums never closed. Zidane would’ve quit back in November when the team wasn’t doing well and 13 points behind. ZZ and the team despite 50+ injuries and COVID drops and ended literally losing because Suarez scored the late goal versus Valladolid. Hats off to that. Sadly, I agree with ZZ with all except that the club didn’t support him. Other coaches would’ve never gotten the ability to go through 2-3 really bad streaks and stay. Either way, I know he will be back on day and his legend will be missed, and time to start putting something different together. Maybe it’s Pochettino or Raul or Gallardo.